Rituals for Decolonization

FoS Meeting #8 – Healing through ancestral work –

En workshop med Fazle Shairmahomed og Toshie Takeuchi

UNION (1. sal Aula) Nørre Allé 7, 2200 København N

20. november kl. 13-18

Pris (almindelig): 40 kr. Pris (lav indkomst): 1 kr. (Reservation på Billet)

Kontakt: toshie@facultyofsenses.dk

Tel: 50396861 (Toshie)

Bemærk: Tag tøj på som man kan røre sig i. Vi har bare fødder gennem workshoppen. Der vil være et små opgave (tekst skrive) før workshoppen.

(ENG text below)

Fazle og Toshie vil dele metoder til healing gennem slægtsarbejde, som har rødder i åndelige øvelser med meditation, skrivning, kropsbevægelse, dans, multisensorisk stimulans, alterfremstilling og gruppesamtaler.

Fazle og Toshie vil dele metoder til healing gennem slægtsarbejde, som har rødder i åndelige øvelser med meditation, skrivning, kropsbevægelse, dans, multisensorisk stimulans, alterfremstilling og gruppesamtaler.

Vores mål er at skabe et sikkert og afkoloniseret (dekolonialt mere sikkert rum), hvor vi kan udvikle en forståelse af, hvordan fælles helbredelse kan se ud i et samfund, der stadig influeres af kolonial historie. Mennesker, som var tvunget til at migrere, deres historie og virkelighed eksisterer stadig i systemer i dag, hvor mennesker marginaliseres, undertrykkes og udelukkes.

Du vil blive udstyret med øvelser inspireret af Butoh, Body Weather, Gnawa og Zar, der fører os til kroppe, der ikke eksisterer mere, sjælen inde i os, og mod den politiserede krop, vi eksisterer i. Vi undersøger hvordan vores kroppe relaterer sig til hinanden og hvordan det transcendentale eksisterer inden for en gruppes tilstedeværelse. Vi vil arbejde med en bevidsthed om, hvordan du kommer ind i denne tilstand og finder din egen vej mod at kontrollere eller give slip.

Vi starter workshoppen med at formulere vores personlige intentioner gennem et skriveritual, efterfulgt af kropslige øvelser og dans, hvor vi vil fokusere på forholdet mellem hjertet og hara (midte). Mens hjertet er rummet for følelser, er hara kilden til styrke og rodfæstelse.

Som forberedelse til workshoppen vil du modtage et par korte hjemmeopgaver: at samle tekster, gennem hvilke du mediterer over forholdet til dine forfædre og at indsamle elementer til dit personlige alter.

Workshoppen fokuserer på QBIPOC mennesker (Queer, Black/Brown, Indigenous, People of Color), men er åben for alle, der er åbne omkring dette fokus. Der kræves ingen forudgående erfaring, men det er til din egen fordel, hvis du identificerer dig med kampen for afkolonisering.

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Profile:

Fazle Shairmahomed creates decolonizing rituals, performance art, and dance. Their work is rooted in ancestral work and intersectional activism. Through the urgency of community building their work creates spaces in which different communities are invited to nurture conversations around colonialism and the ways in which it has impacted our histories and the ways in which it exists today. The multi-sensorial approach in their work also challenges the ways in which we perceive the world around us through themes such as death, rebirth, ancestry, belonging, colonial histories, and healing.

The physical work and research of Fazle is deeply rooted in ways of approaching the state of trance, through archaic movements and ritual practices mostly inspired and informed by Muslim/Sufi traditions of Gnawa, Zar, the whirling Dervish; Japanese Butoh, Surinamese Winti culture, Hindu rituals, Caribbean Bubbling, Muslim funeral practices, Vogueing, and the Club.

Fazle was born and raised in a multicultural society in de Transvaal/Schilderswijk in Den Haag, in the Netherlands, they feel very hybrid, and identifies currently, but not exclusively, as Dutch, Surinamese-Hindustani, Indo-Caribbean, Muslim, Queer, non-binary, and as a person of color. Since 2013 Fazle is one of the members of CLOUD danslab, an artist run dance studio which supports research and practice of dance, movement, and performance art in the Hague. (fazleshairmahomed.com/)

Toshie Takeuchi is a visual artist and filmmaker who was born in Japan and is currently based in Denmark.

“I investigate people’s personal memories and stories in and around specific places, specially focusing on over-looked or disregarded ones. I am interested in how narratives are curated and structured, how microscopic stories of individuals or of small local cities can challenge on the greater structures which create public narratives. I explore how they can participate in suggesting different/new perspectives at geo-political level.

Territory, property, home – ambiguous boundaries between affection, ownership and power often comes into question during my search. I find “participation” and/or “becoming” are important notion as well as the acts to understanding the relationship between the one and the others and the whole.

By applying performative aspect of photography or film, I explore the process of image/narrative arrangements and the transformative moments when memories (re)occur like rituals – a gradual healing for the memories in and around the places –. I like seeing the potential of bodies in the places where I investigate and helping to expand the bodies’ inner-territories by collapsing hierarchical levels of emotions and thoughts, in the way like weaving boundaries between substantial and transcendental spaces. The place, the body and the boundary work together and are, in my opinion, inextricably linked to creating changes in common understanding. “

Faculty of Senses (FoS) is an artist-run initiative that explores new cross sensory art forms through research, public talks, workshops and performance.

FoS focuses on the senses and the apparatuses both within and external to the body that we use to perceive and engage with the world.

FoS creates public platforms in which artist practitioners and researchers engage with and reflect on these sensory apparatuses within a cultural-historical framework.

FoS aims to create an “open source” inspired model for creating community around these topics.

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(Workshop description in English)

Fazle and Toshie will share ways of healing through ancestral work, which is rooted in spiritual practices of meditation, writing, body movement, dance, multi-sensorial stimulation, altar making, and group talks.

Our aim is to create a decolonial safer space where we can develop an understanding of what communal healing could look like in a society that is continuously coming into existence through colonialism. The history and reality of different people who were forced to migrate still exist in systems today, in which people are being marginalized, oppressed and excluded.

You will be prepared with exercises that are inspired by Butoh, Body Weather, Gnawa and Zar, bringing us to bodies that do not exist anymore, the soul inside of us, towards the politicized body in which we exist. We explore how our bodies relate, and how the transcendental exists within the presence of a group. We will work on a consciousness of how to get into this state and find your own path towards controlling or letting go.

We start the workshop by formulating our personal intentions through a writing ritual, followed by body work and dance in which we will focus on the relation between the heart and hara (center). While the heart is the space of feelings and emotions, the hara is the source of strength and rootedness.


This workshop will focus on Queer, Black/Brown, Indigenous, People of Color, but is open to anyone being mindful of the experiences of QBIPOC being centred. No prior experience is required, but it is in your own advantage if you identify yourself with the fight for decolonization.

Note: Before the workshop, we will ask you to conduct a short homework assignments in order to collect writings through which you meditate on the relationship with your ancestors, and to collect elements for your personal altar.